A Day in the Life: 1800-1840 in the United States
Sharon Comstock
(slcomstock@ameritech.net)
(ready to use)
Coauthors
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Charles Branham, U.S. HistoryUniversity of Chicago Lab School |
ASK
Subject Areas
Grade Levels
Unit Keywords
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U.S., history, 1800s, 1800, 1840, daily, life, day, united, states |
Open Directory Category
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U.S. history, united states history, 1800s |
Rationale of the Unit
| You are a person living in the United States in the period between 1800-1840. You can be anyone at all: a plantation owner, a business man, a char woman, a slave, a young student, an apprentice, a politician, a frontier wife, an Apache, etc. You choose. Give a sense of the period from "your" perspective, drawing on resources to make your chosen viewpoint feel authentic and real. |
Background and Resources
GENERAL BOOKS YOU CAN CHECK OUT:
973.5 B66A
Bode, Carl
American Life in the 1840's
Garden City, N.Y : Anchor Books, 1967. "AD4."Includes bibliographical references.
973.5 S22q
Sanford, Charles
Quest for America, 1810-1824
Garden City, N.Y : Anchor Books, 1964. In the "Documents in American Civilization Series." Includes bibliography.
973.52 B23n
Barbuto, Richard V.
Niagara 1814: America Invades Canada
Richard V. Barbuto. Kansas : University Press of Kansas,
2000. Comprehensive study of the Niagara Campaign of 1814,
the American army's ambitious but failed attempt to wrest
Canada from British control.
973.52 G81w
Greenblatt, Miriam
The War of 1812: America at War
New York : Facts on File, 1994.
973.56 M14p
McGrane, Reginald Charles
The panic of 1837: Some Financial Problems of the Jacksonian Era
Chicago : University of Chicago, 1924.
973.6 B28a
Bartlett, Irving H.
The American Mind in the Mid-nineteenth Century.
New York: Crowell, 1967. Covers political and social thought from 1830-1860.
973.6 C59f
Clark, Thomas Dionysius
Frontier America : The Story of the Westward Movement
New York: Scribners, 1959. Particularly useful, the chapter "A Pioneer Way of Life" (200-232).
973.6 L14E
Lacour-Gayet, Robert
Everyday Life in the United States Before the Civil War, 1830-1860
New York : F. Ungar Pub. Co, 1969. Translation of La vie quotidienne aux Etats-Unis a laveille de la Guerre de secession, 1830-1860. Bibliography: p.285-289.
977.02 E19F
Eckert, Allan W.
The Frontiersmen: A Narrative
[1st ed.]. Boston : Little, Brown, 1967. Bibliographical references included in "Chapter notes" (p. [589]-607).
GENERAL REFERENCE BOOKS THAT MUST BE USED IN THE LIBRARY:
R 973 C73w
Commager, Henry Steele
Witness to America : A Documentary History of the United States from its Discovery to Modern Times
New York : Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. Bibliography: p.
1203. 250 firsthand narratives, grouped in 36 eras of
American life, from the opening of the continent until the
end of World War II.
R 973 L72L
Graff, Henry F.
The Life History of the United States
New York : Time-Life Books, c1969. Includes
Bibliographies .v. 12. From 1945: The great age of change, by W. E. Leuchtenburg and the editors of Life.
R 973.03 C55
Chronicle of America
Mount Kisco, NY : Chronicle, (1989?). A documentary chronology of American history from the discovery and exploration of a new world to the present. Illustrations.
R 973.03 C73a
Commager, Henry Steel ed.
American Destiny: The American Character
London: Orbis, 1986. Vol. 4. covers 1815-1860.
R 973.03 D55
Dictionary of American History
Rev. ed. New York : Scribner, c1976-c1978. Vol. 2. Includes index.
R 973.08 A61
The Annals of America
Chicago : Encylopaedia Britannica, inc, c1968-1987. Includes bibliographical references.v. 1.
1493-1754: Discovering a new world.--v. 2. 1755-1783:
Resistance and revolution.--v. 3. 1784-1796: Organizing the
new Nation.--v. 4. 1797-1820: Domestic expansion and foreign entanglements.--v. 5. 1821-1832: Steps toward
egalitarianism.--v. 6. 1833-1840: The challenge of a
continent.--v. 7. 1841-1849: Manifest destiny.--v. 8.
1850-1857: A house dividing.--v. 9. 1858-1865: The crisis of the Union.--v. 10. 1866-1883: Reconstruction and
industrialization, etc.
R 973.3 B85u
Brinkley, Allen
The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People
New York: McGraw Hill, 1997. Includes maps, illustrations, and essays on the multicultural aspect of America's history.
R 978.02 D13j
Jones, Mary Ellen
Daily Life On: The Nineteenth Century American Frontier
Westport: Greenwood, 1998. Includes bibliography. The "Daily Life On" series gives rich political and social context for historical periods. Bibliography is usefully current.
MAGAZINES:
973.A51
American Heritage
Searchable by using the index, located at the end of the magazines on the shelf. You may check out "American Heritage" for two weeks.
RESOURCES ON NATIVE AMERICANS:
R 970.1 M36
The North American Indians
New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1991. A multi-volume set of reference books on Native American cultures in specific areas (e.g., "A Way of Life").
R 970.1 W16t
Waldman, Carl.
Timelines of Native American History
ill. by Molly Braun, designed by Robert Engle. New York : Prentice Hall, 1994. Bibliography: p. 31.
970.1 S85S
Spicer, Edwar H.
A Short history of the Indians of the United States
Malabar, Fla : Krieger, 1983, c1969. "An Anvil
original."Reprint. Originally published: New York : D. Van
Nostrand, 1969.Bibliography: p. 313-314.Includes index.
970.1 W74e
Wilson, James.
The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America
New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999. Includes bibliographical references. Comprehensive history that places the Native Americans at the center of the historical stage.
"Indians of North America" series (cataloged under tribe name, e.g., "Apache" "Cheyenne," etc.). Below is one example in this series. Search in the call number area or by series title.
970.3 A63M
Melody, Michael Edward.
The Apache
New York : Chelsea House Publishers, c1989. Bibliography: p. 104.Includes index.Examines the history, changing fortunes, and current situation of the Apache Indians. Includes a picture essay on their crafts.
970.3 C53G
Grinnell, George Bird
The Cheyenne Indians : Their History and Ways of Life.
Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1972. "A Bison book." Reprint of the 1923 ed. Includes bibliographical references.
973.46 W18j
Wallace, Anthony F.C.
Jefferson and the Indians : The Tragic Fate of the First Americans
Cambridge, Mass : Harvard Univ. Press, 1999. Includes
bibliographical references. The tortured duality of
Jefferson's attitude toward Indians is only now being
unearthed.
RESOURCES ON AFRICAN AMERICANS:
326 Ame (Belfield--Middle School Library)
Miller, James
The Complete History of American Slavery
San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2001.
326.B64s
Blassingame, John. W.
The Slave Community
New York: Oxford, 1972. "Studies slavery from the perspective of the slaves themselves."
326 W26a
Ward, Samuel Ringgold
Autobiography of A Fugitive Negro: His Anti-Slavery Labors in the United States, Canada, & England
Chicago: Johnson Publ., 1970
977.2 G44i
Gibbs, Wilma L., ed.
Indiana's African American Heritage: Essays from Black History News and Notes
Indianapolis : Indiana Historical Society, 1993. Bibliographic references for each chapter.
R 301.451
Ploski, Harry A. and James Williams
Reference Library of Black America, Vol. 1
New York: Gale, 1990. Includes chronology, significant documents, historic landmarks, and civil rights past and present.
R 326 C582
Andrews, William L. and Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The Civitas Anthology of African American Slave Narratives
Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1999
R 326 T461
Thomas, Velma Maia
Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation
New York: Crown, 1997. "A three-dimensional interactive book with photographs and documents from the Black Holocaust Exhibit."
R973 A51
Williams, Michael
The African American Encyclopedia
New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1993.
RESOURCES ON HISPANIC AMERICANS:
R 972 K16
Kanellos, Nicolas
Reference Library of Hispanic America
Detroit: Gale, 1992.
RESOURCES ON WOMEN:
R 305.23 C53
Fass, Paula S. and Mary Ann Mason
Childhood in America
New York: New York Univ. Press, 2000. Includes articles on childbirth, childrearing, and gender biases across in American history.
R 305.4 F82i
Franck, Irene & David Brownstone
Illustrated History of Women: Age of Revolution 1750-1829
Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1999.
R 305.4 F82i
Franck, Irene & David Brownstone
Illustrated History of Women: Dawn of a New Age 1830-1869
Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1999.
326 F79w
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth
Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South
Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina, 1988.
LOCAL HISTORY: ILLINOIS/MIDWEST
977 W58m
White, Richard
The middle ground : Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815
New York : Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991. Includes
bibliographical references and index. History of Great Lakes Indians empires and republics.
977.3 A58P
Angle, Paul M.
Prairie State
Univ. of Chicago, 1968.
977.3 C316i
Carrier, Lois A.
Illinois : Crossroads of a Continent
Urbana and Chicago : Univ. of Illinois Press, 1998. A history of
the state of Illinois from the Cahokia Mounds, the largest
prehistoric earthen structure in North America, to the the
present day.
977.303 B92I
Buck, Solon Justus
Illinois in 1818
Univ. of Illinois, 1967. Includes bibliography.
977.303 S59d
Simeone, James
Democracy and Slavery in Frontier Illinois : the Bottomland Republic
DeKalb, Ill : Northern Illinois University Press, 2000. Contends that the contest over slavery in Illinois prefigured the course of national politics up to the Civil War, revealing the complexity of the slave problem in the early
ELECTRONIC/WEBSITES:
PRIMARY SOURCES:
American Memory from the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov
This is the historical collection for the National Digital Library, drawing on materials in the Library of Congress' archives. There are many ways to search the site for full-text materials, and we suggest taking time to explore.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
www.nara.gov
Like the American Memory initiative, this government site allows access to digitized original documents (e.g., archived tally of the electoral votes in 1825 when the vote was so close the House had to select a president: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay). (We suggest viewing "The Exhibit Hall" among other areas of the site.)
National Women's History Project
http://www.nwhp.org
Nonprofit site that provides a gateway to other sources and links pertaining to women's history. Go to the "Learning Place" page on the site for links/resources that include primary materials.
Palmer's Index to The Times
http://historyonline.chadwyck.co.uk
Useful for newspaper articles published in the London newspaper. Search the archive limiting by years (e.g., "1790-1905") and then by terms (e.g., "United States" or "America"). This will retrieve digital copies of the original newspaper article.
University of Michigan Online Journal Collection
http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/moa_browse.html
This catalog has archived magazines popularly read at the time. Search by journal and date.
SECONDARY SOURCES ON THE WEB:
The reference department at the Suburban Library System created this list of superior sources on African American history:
http://www.sls.lib.il.us/reference/por/onweb/99/africam.html
Africana.com
http://www.africana.com/
This site is a comprehensive resource of the African American experience. To access historical information, click on "History" and limit by date (e.g., "1500-1860").
BigChalk.com Education Network
www.bigchalk.com
Search their educator-selected sites on a diversity of subject areas. Search for "United States History" for a list of strong links (e.g., government, educational, and museum archives).
History Net
http://thehistorynet.com
Search under "American History" or browse this site that has a mix of primary and secondary sources.
JStor
This site makes full-text academic articles available across subject areas. You’ll need to access this through the University of Chicago Library Gateway, available only at Rowley or a University of Chicago Library terminal. How to get there:
--Go to www.uchicago.edu/library
--Click on "Electronic Resources"
--Select from the alphabet, "J"
--Then scroll down to "JStor"
--Select a subject area, in this case "History" and enter your search terms (e.g., "United States" and "1800-1840" will bring up 69 accurate hits).
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Activities and Open-ended problems
IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES -- activities and discussions within synchronous classes
In-class activities included traditional lecture/exploration of the topic by the teacher as well as the librararian "resource talking" in the classroom.
Loading a book cart with traditional as well as non-traditional sources, reading brief passages from diaries of the period, and then concluding with pointing students to this Inquiry Unit took approximately 20 minutes of class time. I then answered questions from students for about 5-10 minutes.
LAB ACTIVITIES -- work to do in labs or other special settings
ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE OF CLASS / INDEPENDENT WORK
Library research performed by students at the high school library as well as the University of Chicago Library.
OPEN-ENDED PROBLEMS -- creative extensions
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Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
FACE-TO-FACE DIALOGUES
GROUP DIALOGUES
ON-LINE DIALOGUES
IN-CLASS DISCUSSIONS
PRESENTATIONS
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Assessment, Related Questions, and Story of the Unit
ASSESSMENT
Circulation statistics for these classes/age group went up, database statistics show that access was greater in this group (from home and onsite), and our student traffic increased at the reference desk after visiting the classrooms.
RELATED QUESTIONS
I want to be able to track "before" and "after" much more closely. Therefore, I would be inclined to create a formalized evaluation for the next group I teach in order to quantify what students say they know of information resources. Also, I would like to analyze the quality of the research (identifying their citations and comparing them to a control group) with the teacher.
STORY OF THE UNIT -- How did it go?
As a "joint unit" of sorts, I can only assess my part of the it: providing bibliographic instruction in context. My going into the class had a huge impact in the number of students we saw actually using Rowley resources. In the past, students felt the library didn't "have anything" and would bypass research at the school for online sources found accidently on the Internet and going to the University Library (if they had already created an account there). By going to the students--knocking on their doors--I was able to demonstrate:(1) the library does indeed have resources that are relevant, (2) research skills can be streamlined and targeted, making their time in the library efficent, and (3) how to incorporate different research strategies into their other classes.
All of the books I pulled for the report were used by almost 70 students. Despite this being a fairly competitive school, I was able to communicate the value of sharing resources and teach "smart selection" skills. Students who would typically check out 10 resources in a single subject and find nothing were instead willing to evaluate a resource for its utility, and then decide to check it out. Before doing this type of bibliographic instruction, the students assumed there was nothing of value in the library. After my visits, they viewed the library's resources as having enough value that they wanted to share to avoid being "a hog" (as one student put it).
Also of note, our monthly statistics that I began tabulating this year jumped for the month, reflecting the "internal outreach" I had done with these classes. Our statistics on database use for this age group also spiked, which demonstrates that students did indeed access the databases that they previously had not known how to access.
Informally, I have talked with Mr. Branham's students about this assignment, and they felt that the bibliographic instruction gave them the tools they needed to make the assignment "come alive." Several students returned to thank me for facilitating their research paths.
RESPONSES FROM OTHERS (teachers)
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